Government/Politics - 159. page

On March 9, at a break-down group meeting of the 4th session of the 12th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), former Deputy Minister of Railways Hu Yadong criticized the National Development and Reform Commission.

"The [commission’s] annual economic development plan should have shown the actual implementation of the Premier’s [economic] plan at the National People’s Congress, but we didn’t see anything [concrete].

"In government investment, how many projects [will be taken on] and where the money will be spent should be expressed clearly. Leave the rest to the market. You (referring to the National Development and Reform Commission) don’t need to give vague words, such as ‘study to make a decision,’ ‘actively pushing forward,’ and ‘greatly promoting.’ These words do not belong in the actual plan.

"For example, the plan said to build a total of 2,000 km of utility pipes (water, Internet, gas, etc.) in all cities in China this year. I say it can’t be that small a number. We are building so many new residential buildings throughout the country; even 20,000 km is not enough [to support this new construction]. We have paid all the required ancillary fees for new buildings. If we hadn’t paid them, we could not have gotten the building permits. Are we going to get the waste water pipes? Is it that we will get them in some places and we won’t in some other places? Where did the money [that was paid] go?"

Source: Sina, March 10, 2016
http://news.sina.com.cn/c/nd/2016-03-10/doc-ifxqhmvc2263122.shtml

Voice of America (VOA) interviewed Luo Yu, a former People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Colonel working at the PLA General Staff Department who left China in late 1989 after the PLA’s Tiananmen Square Massacre. Luo Yu has a special status. He is a princeling who knew Xi Jinping personally. His father was Luo Ruiqing, one of the ten Grand Generals (ranking lower than ten Marshalls but higher than other Generals) that China conferred in 1955, after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took over in China.

Luo Yu pointed out that there is strong political in-fighting going on within the CCP. Therefore, Xi has had to collect power under himself and use the anti-corruption campaign to cleanse disloyal officials. He suggested that Xi has taken on political reform to lead China to democracy.

"His anti-corruption [campaign] was actually against a political coup [that had formed against him]. If he were truly against corruption, then the Communist Party would be gone because the whole Party is corrupt. So his anti-corruption was [just] against the political coup."

"I feel that he has faced a lot of resistance. It has been hard to tell which things were done because he wanted to do them so his subordinates did them for him and which were done when he didn’t want them, but his subordinates did them in order to create trouble for him. So, [though wrongs things happened in China], I still have hope for him."

"I can understand why he collected power under himself. That was because, among the people around him, whether it was the Politburo Standing Committee members or Politburo members, only a few truly shared the same view with him. It was just Wang Qishan and Li Zhanshu (Chief of Staff of the General Office of the CCP Central Committee). Within the Politburo Standing Committee, only one (Wang Qishan) supported him, one (Li Keqiang) stayed neutral, and four others waited to see him fall. For that reason, he couldn’t give power to others. He had to collect the power under himself."

"I felt that he would change something. At least he will no longer follow the old practice of appointing a successor. I hope he chooses the Presidential election [to identify the next leader.]"

"If Xi Jinping chooses the Democracy path, it will be fortunate for China. Problems that can’t be solved today, from religion to morality, from finance to the economy, banking, insurance, the military, education, healthcare, and retirement funds, will all be solved."

"If [Xi] does not take this path, since the CCP is totally corrupt, it will be finished."

"Is there a third path?" (Asked the reporter.)

"There is no third path."

Source: VOA, March 9, 2016.
http://www.voachinese.com/content/interview-luoyu-on-xijinping-20160309/3228611.html

On March 9, 2016, People’s Daily published the full text of a speech that Xi Jinping delivered to a group of businessmen. On March 4, 2016, during the fourth session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Xi gave a speech titled, “Unswervingly Adhere to Our Basic Economic System and Promote the Healthy Development of different Forms of Ownership.” 

When attending the current CPPCC National Congress, Zhu Zhengfu, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee and Vice Chairman of the All China Lawyers Association, was about to submit a proposal to request the aboliton of the Detaining and Educating System.

Zhu had submitted the same proposal in March 2014, after December 2013, when the National People’s Congress abolished the forced labor camp system. He remembered, however, "The Ministry of Public Security sent officials to talk with me and provided a written response that they objected to the abolition."

In 1993, the State Council issued the "Measures on Detaining and Educating Prostitutes." It granted the police the power to take administrative action to put prostitutes into six months to two years of forced-education and forced-labor work without a court investigation or a trial.

Zhu pointed out that this detaining and educating system is, in essence, a forced-labor camp system for prostitutes. Thus, it should be eliminated completely.

Source: Caixin, March 3, 2016
http://topics.caixin.com/2016-03-03/100915310.html

Guangming Daily reported that during the current Lianghui [the "Lianghui" consists of two parts: the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Consultative Conference (CPPCC)], Zhu Yongxing, deputy director of Chinese Society of Education raised two areas that demand education reform: the increase in Chinese youth studying abroad and the lack of education for migrant workers. Zhu commented that the current education system in China is ineffective and can’t meet the demand of its people.

According to Zhu, in 2014, Chinese oversea students spent close to 200 billion yuan (USD$31 billion) on higher education overseas. From July 2014 to February 2015, the number of Chinese high school students studying in the U.S. grew 50 percent. Zhu called for renovation in the Chinese education system to improve its quality in order to make it more diverse and advanced so as to keep the Chinese youth from studying abroad.

Zhu also said that, based on the statistics from the Ministry of Human Resource and Social Security, there are 150 million technical workers in China, accounting for 19 percent of total employed population. Among them 37 million are workers with advanced skills. Zhu claimed that vocational education can solve the issue of the technical labor shortage and lack of quality workers. However the current vocational schools lack flexibility; they are unable to provide evening and weekend classes and a curriculum that will attract migrant workers. Their admission rate continues to drop while their resources remain underutilized. Zhu suggested that the funding from the central administration and local government can help the vocational schools to provide professional training classes and redesign the courses so that they provide flexibility to enable the migrant workers to gain technical skills.

Source: Guangming Daily, March 3, 2016
http://edu.gmw.cn/2016-03/04/content_19160882.htm

Radio France Internationale published an article which stated that the microblog of a Chinese Real Estate businessman was recently closed because of his postings of “illegal statements.” According to the article, since Xi Jinping visited three central media on February 19 and urged all the Party and government media to show absolute loyalty to the Party, all of the media entities throughout China published articles showing their allegiance to the Party. However, Ren Zhiqiang, a real estate businessman who has over 30 million followers on his microblog site, published two postings questioning this request. He asked, “When did the people’s government change its loyalty to the Party?” He also stated, “When the media show loyalty to the Party, the people that should be represented will end up being forgotten in a corner.” These two blogs were soon deleted from the Sina website. According to the article, on Feb 22, the Qianlong website which the propaganda department of the municipal government of Beijing manages, published an article accusing Ren of spreading an “anti-party” ideology. In the next few days, a number of official media published articles criticizing Ren’s posts and questioning his motive of “placing the Party against its people.” They even called Ren the shame of 80 million Party members and said he should be expelled from the Party.

On February 25, the China Digital Times website carried an opinion article written by Cai Xia, a professor at the Central Party School. Her article covered the following three areas: about Party members’ rights to express opinions; how different opinions within the Party should be handled; and how Party members can participate in discussions and express their opinions. Cai quoted a statement that Xi Jinping made to support her position: “The Chinese Communist Party should tolerate criticism. … Those who are non-Party members should be bold enough to speak up to reflect the true voice of the people…” Cai concluded that how Ren is treated is directly correlated with whether 80 million Party members’ rights are protected.

On February 27, Guangming Daily published an article that stated that the Party School should be loyal to the Party and questioned Cai Xia on where her Party spirit is.

On February 28, Xinhua published an article quoting the spokesperson from the Central Leading Group for Internet Security and Informatiomiization office who confirmed that Ren’s microblogs on Sina and Tencent have been closed due to Ren’s “illegal public statement.” 

Sources:
Radio Free International, February 26, 2016
http://cn.rfi.fr/中国/20160226-任志强“反党”事件的背后
China Digital Times, February 25, 2016
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/2016/02/党章党规保护任志强们的党员权利/
Guangming Daily, February 27, 2016
http://politics.gmw.cn/2016-02/27/content_19067472.htm
Xinhua, February 28, 2016
http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-02/28/c_1118181513.htm

On February 23, 2016, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Chinese Communist Party announced that it will start its first round of 2016 inspections to look into corruption and the abuse of power. Inspection teams will be dispatched to 32 Communist Party and government departments. At the top of the list are the Publicity Department of the Communist Party, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice.